Monday, December 31, 2012

Jeremy GrimaldiDecember 30, 2012

When an interracial Newmarket couple had their lives
threatened and their cars and home scrawled with racist graffiti, the
region gasped. There was embarrassment and anger locally and throughout the GTA.
There was shock.
Much of the Toronto media portrayed the incident, which began to unfold a
year ago, as the result of small town struggling with growth and
diversity.
Others, however, including Newmarket Mayor Tony Van Bynen, never wavered from their belief this was not a random act.
The latter group was right, as the man convicted of the crimes turned
out to be the former partner of Rita Brown, one of the victims, along
with her then-partner, Seun Oyinsan.

But in the weeks before charges were laid, one of Canada’s fastest
growing communities, in a region expected to have 62 per cent of its
residents born outside of Canada by 2031, held its breath.

“Any urban society will have challenges based largely on the fact that
you are close to your neighbours and you will impact more and interact
more than in rural areas,” Mr. Van Bynen said.

Despite these problems, though, he believes the town saw the ugly face
of racism and intolerance, learned from the experience and is now
stronger as a result.

“There is strength in our diversity,” he said. “Take a look at the great
mosaic emerging in our community — there are 14 different languages in
our schools.”

He also referenced the group Newmarket Cares as an organization that came out of the racist ordeal stronger than before. It started by providing security cameras for the family targeted by the racist graffiti.
Now, it is raising cash to help the victims of this month’s fire on Timothy Street.

"Although we may never eradicate racism, views change with each new
generation", said Det. Brett Kemp, who heads up York Regional Police’s
hate crime unit. “There are some (who) hold on to bigoted ideologies and will use this
sort of crime to spread the ideology,” he said. “There’s always work to
do, including getting out and talking to teachers, educators and
students about human rights and equality.”

It’s part of a larger thrust by the police service to tackle the issue. Chief Eric Jolliffe recently finished up a thesis on enhancing the
force’s relationship with York’s visible minority communities. Since the incident, Mr. Oyinsan and Ms Brown have separated, something she said is a result, in part, of last year’s incident.

The man convicted of the crime was involved in car crash and has been in hospital since late October. Despite what transpired, Ms Brown said that because he has no family, she is in touch with him and is helping him out.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Recent political analysis has focused on the decline of the white vote, and a corresponding rise in the number of minority voters. According to exit polls in November, President Barack Obama won the votes of about 93 percent of African Americans, 71 percent of Hispanics (crucial to his victory in Colorado) and 73 percent of Asians. Mitt Romney took 59 percent of the white vote.

Looking at these numbers, you’d think all voters fit neatly into one — and only one — racial or ethnic category. Pretty strange, considering that the guy who got re-elected doesn’t fit neatly into one category himself. Black father, white mother: Obama may identify as African American, but it doesn’t take Nate Silver to do the math and conclude that our president is biracial.

So why were mixed-race voters ignored in election reporting and analysis? After all, according to thenewvoters.news21.com, a website that looks at how demographic trends influence American voting behavior, "People who identify as multiracial make up the fastest-growing demographic in the country."

We’re the fastest-growing demographic in the country. I’m part of this hard-to-quantify, difficult-to-poll group. I’m Norwegian-Swedish-Korean American.

Born in 1966 in Los Angeles, I was in the demographic vanguard. Today, being mixed race isn’t unusual in California.

I’ve got it easier than President Obama. My name’s white bread — or should I say lefse, the Norwegian flatbread. Only my middle name, Soon, is Korean. No one asks for my birth certificate.

In California, I fit in. But I live now in the Four Corners area, that odd bit of geography where Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona come together. Not many Asian Americans in our rural high desert country. Once, filling out new-patient forms at a clinic in southeast Utah, I went to check all of my race boxes because I hate checking "other." Asian wasn’t even an option.

In this area, with my looks, I’m sometimes mistaken for American Indian. I usually take this as a sign I’m wearing too much turquoise jewelry.

Seriously, though, as a mixed-race person I’m skeptical of attempts to peg identity as just one thing. I’m not Scandinavian American or Korean American; I’m not Caucasian or Asian. I’m mixed.

Is it my heritage that makes me question categories? Or is it part of the American condition?

Take the lines separating the Four Corners states on the map. Out here, we know the Four Corners is not only where four states meet, but also a place on the Navajo Reservation, American Indian land.

My mixed-race heritage makes me a demographic thorn in the side of the Republican Party. The party of Bill O’Reilly, who notoriously said on election night, "it’s not a traditional America anymore. The white establishment is the minority."

People like me aren’t necessarily a gift to Democrats, either, who may be over-reliant on a "minority establishment."

Mixed-race identities defy easy matching with political attitudes. In a world of Democrats and Republicans, blue states and red, mixed identities remind us that we’re all individuals, with beliefs that are mixed, as well.

As a fiction writer, identities — and the stories we tell about ourselves — grab me more than overtly political issues. Who is a Westerner? With my mixed heritage and newcomer status in the Four Corners, am I one?

For me, the personal is political. The decline of the white vote, the rise of minorities — that’s an old story I’m ready to leave behind.

As we begin a new year, let’s recognize America’s multiracial, multiethnic future. And then let’s start talking to each other.

Source: The Salt Lake Tribune/Erica Olsen is the author of "Recapture & Other Stories" (Torrey House Press), a collection of short fiction about the once and future West. A former resident of Blanding and Moab, she currently lives in Dolores in southwest Colorado.

Census Bureau Rethinks The Best Way To Measure Race

Possible revisions to how the decennial census asks questions about race and ethnicity have raised concerns among some groups that any changes could reduce their population count and thus weaken their electoral clout.

The Census Bureau is considering numerous changes to the 2020 survey in an effort to improve the responses of minorities and more accurately classify Latino, Asian, Middle Eastern and multiracial populations.

Potential options include eliminating the "Hispanic origin" question and combining it with the race question, new queries for people of Middle Eastern or North African heritage, and spaces for Asians to list their country of descent. One likely outcome could be an end to the use of "Negro."

The stakes surrounding population counts are high. Race data collected in the census are used for many purposes, including enforcement of civil rights laws and monitoring of racial disparities in education, health and other areas.

In addition, the information is used to redraw state legislative and local school districts, and in the reapportioning of congressional seats. The strong Latino growth found in the 2010 census guaranteed additional seats in Congress for eight states.

Latino leaders say changing the Hispanic origin question could create confusion and lead some Latinos not to mark their ethnicity, shrinking the overall Hispanic numbers.

The wording in the 2010 census question, which asked people if they are of Latino origin and then provided a space to fill in their race, yielded a strong response and a record count of 50 million Latinos. Their growth moved them ahead of African-Americans as the nation's largest minority group.

"We're the only group in the country that has our own question? Why give it up?" says Angelo Falcon, director of the National Institute for Latino Policy. "A lot of Latino researchers like the question the way it is now because it shows those differences. The way the Census Bureau is thinking about combining the questions, it might take away that information in terms of how we fit within the American racial hierarchy."

Falcon co-chairs a group of about 30 Latino civil rights and advocacy groups that recently met with the Census Bureau about the potential changes.
For many years, the accuracy of census data on some minorities has been questioned because many respondents don't report being a member of one of the five official government racial categories: white, black or African-American, Asian, American Indian/Alaska Native and Pacific Islander.

When respondents don't choose a race, the Census Bureau assigns them one, based on the racial makeup of their neighborhood, among other factors. The method leads to a less accurate count.

Broadly, the nation's demographic shifts underscore the fact that many people, particularly Latinos and immigrants, don't identify with the American concept of race.

The government categorizes Hispanic as an ethnicity, while many Hispanics think of it as a race. The confusion played out in the 2010 count, as nearly 22 million people — 97 percent of whom were Hispanic — identified as "some other race." It ranked as the third-largest racial category.

In addition, Asians and Hispanics had the highest rates of interracial marriage in 2010. And 9 million people identified as multiracial, compared with nearly 6 million in 2000.

Even the terms "Latino" and "Hispanic" are met by many with ambivalence, according to a 2011 national survey by the Pew Hispanic Research Center. Only about 24 percent of adults use either term to most often describe themselves. Slightly more than half of the respondents preferred to identify themselves by their family's country of origin. And 21 percent said they most often identify as American.
Middle Eastern and North African origin is an ancestry, which is no longer captured in the census form. The government racially defines the ancestry as white. Advocates say the methodology has led to severe undercounts of people of Arab descent.

"We don't necessarily identify as white because we have a lot of cultural and socioeconomic idiosyncrasies that are different," says Samer Araabi of the Arab American Institute, which supports the Census Bureau's efforts. "We think it's a great step forward not only for the Arab-American community, but for all other communities that are currently being lost in the census form."

The Census Bureau's research for the 2020 form is based on findings from an experimental questionnaire sent to nearly 500,000 households during the 2010 census. The forms worded the race and ethnicity questions differently than the official form, including combining them as a single question. Census officials say the combined question led to improved response rates and accuracy.

Karen Humes, assistant division chief for Special Population Statistics of the Census Bureau, says the agency's research is "expanding our understanding of how people identify their race and Hispanic origin. It can change over time." Humes says it's "very premature" to anticipate exactly how the 2020 census form might change.

Any recommended changes to the form must be approved by the Office of Management and Budget and by Congress. Source: NPR

Sunday, December 23, 2012

At this special time of year we would like to wish you all the happiest of holidays and thank the members of
Project RACE, Project RACE Teens, Project RACE Grandparents and Project RACE Kids for your commitment to the multiracial
community and our organization.

We are especially grateful to those who help fund our
work.

Contributions are tax-deductible. Donations are used to help us defray
the minimal costs of maintaining the organization such as:

Project RACE never requires a membership
fee. We are a non-profit,501(c)(3) all volunteer organization supported
by individual donations, contributions and grants. If you believe in our cause, please
consider making a difference for multiracial people. We are committed to
keeping our administrative costs to a minimum and welcome all
contributions in any amount. Scroll down to see how your donations are used.

Make a donation through Paypal here: http://www.projectrace.com/donate/

Or By Mail:

Project RACE
P.O. Box 2366
Los Banos, CA 93635

Your donation to Project RACE will be used for:

Educational programs for children

Accounting, legal and other professional fees

Umbilical cord blood banking awareness

Mandatory state business fees

Website hosting costs

Marketing and public relations

General office supplies and postage

Printing and associated promotion costs

General operating expenses

Thank you!

Sincerely,
The Executive Director, Board and Presidents of Project RACE

Friday, December 21, 2012

Growing, Older, More Diverse Nation by 2060

Hispanic population expected to more than double during period

Article |
December 20, 2012
|

WASHINGTON — The U.S. population
will be considerably older and more racially and ethnically diverse by
2060, according to projections released this week by the U.S. Census
Bureau. The projections of population by age, sex, race and Hispanic
origin, covering the 2012-2060 period, are the first set based on the
2010 Census.

“The next half century marks key points in continuing trends — the
U.S. will become a plurality nation, where the non-Hispanic white
population remains the largest single group, but no group is in the
majority,” says Acting Director Thomas L. Mesenbourg.

Furthermore, the population is projected to grow much more slowly
over the next several decades, compared with the last projections
released in 2008 and 2009.

The population age 65 and older is expected to more than double by
2060, from 43.1 million to 92.0 million, and will represent just over
one in five U.S. residents by the end of the period.
Baby boomers, defined as persons born between 1946 and 1964, number
76.4 million in 2012 and account for about one-quarter of the
population. In 2060, when the youngest of them would be 96 years old,
they are projected to number around 2.4 million and represent 0.6% of
the total population.

The non-Hispanic white population is projected to peak in 2024, at
199.6 million, up from 197.8 million in 2012. Unlike other race or
ethnic groups, however, its population is projected to slowly decrease,
falling by nearly 20.6 million from 2024 to 2060.

Meanwhile, the Hispanic population would more than double, from 53.3
million in 2012 to 128.8 million in 2060. The black population is
expected to increase from 41.2 million to 61.8 million over the same
period. The Asian population is projected to more than double, from 15.9
million in 2012 to 34.4 million in 2060.

Among the remaining race groups, American Indians and Alaska Natives
would increase by more than half from now to 2060, from 3.9 million to
6.3 million. The Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander population
is expected to nearly double, from 706,000 to 1.4 million. The number of
people who identify themselves as being of two or more races is
projected to more than triple, from 7.5 million to 26.7 million over the
same period.

All in all, minorities, now 37% of the U.S. population, are projected
to comprise 57% of the population in 2060. (Minorities consist of all
but the single-race, non-Hispanic white population.) The total minority
population would more than double, from 116.2 million to 241.3 million
over the period.

Projections show the older population would continue to be
predominately non-Hispanic white, while younger ages are increasingly
minority. Of those age 65 and older in 2060, 56.0% are expected to be
non-Hispanic white, 21.2% Hispanic and 12.5% non-Hispanic black. In
contrast, while 52.7% of those younger than 18 were non-Hispanic white
in 2012, that number would drop to 32.9% by 2060. Hispanics are
projected to make up 38.0% of this group in 2060, up from 23.9% in 2012.

Monday, December 17, 2012

According to a recent report released by the National Center for Education Statistics, entitled Beginning K–12 Teacher Characteristics and Preparation by School Type, 2009, the racial and ethnic breakdown of teachers employed in U.S. secondary school
was as follows:

77% are white
9.1% are Hispanic
7.6% are black 4%
self-identify as two or more races
3.4% are Asian

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Unless otherwise specified, the statistics refer to the population
who reported a race alone. Censuses and surveys permit respondents to
select more than one race; consequently people may be one race or a
combination of races. The detailed tables show statistics for the
resident population by "race alone" and "race alone or in combination."

The
federal government treats Hispanic origin and race as separate and
distinct concepts. In surveys and censuses, separate questions are asked
on Hispanic origin and race. The question on Hispanic origin asks
respondents if they are of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin. Starting
with the 2000 Census, the question on race asked respondents to report
the race or races they consider themselves to be. Hispanics may be of
any race. Responses of "Some Other Race" from the 2010 Census were
modified for these projections. This results in differences between the
population for specific race categories in these projections versus
those in the original 2010 Census data.

What will America look like in 2060? Census Bureau has an idea

The headline from a U.S. Census Bureau release on Wednesday gets to
the point: “Projections Show a Slower Growing, Older, More Diverse
Nation a Half Century from Now.”

The bureau made projections all the way out to 2060, based on figures
from the 2010 census. Here’s some of what is expected to be the reality
in 2060, presuming, of course, that we survive the Mayan apocalypse
next week.

The U.S. population will be 420.3 million om 2060, after hitting the 400 million mark in 2051.
People 65 and over will more than double, to 92 million. Those 85 and over will triple, to 18.2 million.

The youngest baby boomers will be 96, but there will still be 2.4
million of them, all complaining that music was better in their day.

In 2056 it will be the first time there will be more people 65 and older than there are young people 18 and younger.

The non-Hispanic white population is expected to peak in 2024 at
199.6 million. That’s not much more than today, less than 2 million
more. After that it’s expected to drop, falling by 20.6 million by 2060.

The number of Hispanics will more than double, from 55.3 million to
128.8 million. That means nearly one in three people in the U.S. will be
Hispanic; that figure is one in six today.

The black population is expected to grow from 41.2 million to 61.8 million, up to 14.7 percent of the country.

The Asian population will more than double to 34.4 million, which would be 8.2 percent of the country.

American Indians and Alaska natives will grow from 3.9 million to 6.3
million, while native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders will nearly
double, from 706,000 to 1.4 million.

People identifying themselves as being of two or more races will triple, from 7.5 million to 26.7 million.

By 2043, the U.S. will be a “majority-minority” nation for the first
time, though whites will still be the largest single ethnic group. By
2060, minorities – those who are not non-Hispanic whites – will make up
57 percent of the U.S., up from 37 percent today.Matt Soergel's Blog/Jacksonville.com

Yesterday was 12-12-12. Everyone at school was talking about how that won't happen for another 100 years. And at 12 minutes after 12 we all looked at the clock and screamed. It was fun, I guess. But really, every date only happens one time. That is how time works! Here is another reason December 12th is cool every year! - Karson

On this day in 1966, the United States Supreme Court announced that it would hear the case of Richard and Mildred Loving,
a mixed-race couple who had married in Washington, D.C., and then were
later arrested in their home south of Fredericksburg. Such marriages
were then prohibited in Virginia, and the law had been upheld by the
state’s highest court. As the newspaper clipping above indicates,
Virginia’s attorney general, Robert Young Button,
had argued against the court considering the case, saying “it is clear
the challenged enactments infringe no constitutional right …”
Not so clear, turns out. In 1967, in Loving v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Virginia’s law.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

CNN aired a show hosted by Soledad O’Brien Sunday called
“Who is Black in America?” I have been disgusted with the public misunderstanding
of multiracial people on so called news shows in the past, but this one wins
the prize for the absolute worst.

First, let’s not forget that Soledad O’Brien is an
entertainer and not an authority on the news. Her game is simple: ratings. She
does not believe that people get to choose
their own identities. But neither she nor anyone else should ever question someone’s
racial self-identification.

O’Brien’s mother is black and her father is white; her mother
told her not to let anyone tell her she’s not black. So she self identifies as
only black, denying half of her identity. She has that right and that
opportunity. I feel that everyone should clearly have the right and opportunity
to choose to be multiracial, too. But
she has clearly brought her identity into her job this time.

This CNN special tells the story of several multiracial
people who identify only as black, and are coerced into identifying as black to
be on the national news. Some “experts” are thrown in who simply are getting free
publicity for their books or are holding on to their academic jobs by writing
and talking about the advantages of self-identifying as black if you happen to
be unfortunate enough to have been born to parents of different races.

There is a sub-story line to the show about how performing
slam poetry can make a multiracial person black, what they “really” should be.
They are mentored by a “spoken word poet” who helps them realize if they are
multiracial, as he is, they can identify as black, as he does. They proudly
succeed with one woman who says being able to be black is “a weight off my
shoulders—a milestone.”

This show is, in my opinion, the most misguided show in the
CNN “race” series to date. It’s a propaganda piece for every multiracial person
to identify only as black; they should not even have a choice. Ms. O’Brien even
tries to completely nullify multiracial advocacy by stating that you may only choose
one race on the US Census. That statement has been absolutely untrue since the
2000 US Census.

I was almost physically ill when a teacher was showcased for
teaching young children about the brown paper bag test used at the height of
racism in this nation to distinguish whether a person was light enough to enjoy
all those advantages of white people, whatever they might be. For example a
teacher—usually white—could hold a brown paper bag up to a student’s skin and
separate the class into those lighter and those darker than the bag—a kind of
segregation in itself. Those with lighter skin received something better than
those with darker skin. The teacher said, “The more shocking the lesson, the
better.” Is this really the way to teach anti-racism to a seven year old? No.
It’s a way to make white people the enemy, which is really what this show concluded
in its own media kind of way.

The show fully embraces the one-drop rule—if you have one
drop of “black blood,” you are monoracially black—and as evidence, one young
woman is urged by Ms. O’Brien to stop identifying as biracial and become black.
How in the world is this a balanced documentary?! It should not be titled “Who
is Black in America,” but rather “You, too, should be Black in America!”

Only one white father on this very biased show says that his
daughters should have the option of being biracial.

There are plenty of people who will publicly—on the Internet
anyway—applaud Ms. O’Brien for whatever reason and it will give them a chance
to spout more hate against the multiracial movement, Project RACE, and me. I’m
used to it after 23 years of fighting for the rights of multiracial people who
wish to embrace their entire heritage. What is more recent is the new hatred
against white people who are being blamed for what happened so many years ago
and who fostered the civil rights movement.

A certain radio talk show host is a prime example. This was
her recent statement during one of her shows: “Historically white people have
had the resources to help and opinions of people of color were NEVER taken into
account…yes ideas were stolen but opinions were not counted.” NEVER is a pretty
powerful word, especially when capitalized. It’s also a racist comment. I believe
that “people of color” can be just as racist as anyone else. One of her devoted
fans answered, “White people should go teach white people [about racism] cuz
they don’t seem to be listening to me.” Why would anyone of any color(s) listen
to this guy?

I wonder how people would feel if Project RACE stated it is
imperative that only multiracial
people teach about racism, or that the black population has sole responsibility
to erase racism. Every one of every
race, ethnicity, culture, nationality, and religion has a responsibility to
fight racism—not just whites.

It reminds me of when I was a teenager and met and
befriended a foreign exchange student from Germany. Being Jewish, my parents
were openly hostile toward him. Huh? He did
not do horrible things that Germans did to Jews and that occurred before he was
even born. He was not responsible for
wrongs any more than I, as a white woman, was responsible in any way for
slavery or racism.

There seems to be some kind of backlash going on to hold all
white people accountable for racism and to believe that they should be held
responsible for what ALL white people have done forever. I believe that ALL
people choose their own identity and we should all be concerned about passing
down racist ideas to our future generations.

In fact, I have been taking the heat lately from some
anti-multiracial bloggers. They single me out as a white woman who has actually
gotten things done in communities, states, federally, and in the educational
and healthcare systems for multiracial people and then attack me just for being
white. One of their main issues is that since race is a “social and not
biological construct,” we should stop trying to get more medical research done
to find out if multiracial people really do have certain health risks that
other groups do not; in essence, we are put down for trying to help save lives.

It has finally occurred to me that if race really is not a
biological construct in the eyes of those anti-multiracial racists, I should be
willing to meet them halfway. I was born in Detroit—yes, Detroit, the city, not
the suburbs—to a white man and white woman, was raised by a black woman, was married
to a black man for 24 years and had two multiracial children, so I am more
socially multiracial than white. I “get it” enough to finally declare my
identity as multiracial: biologically white and socially black. That should
make them happy. As for CNN and Soledad O’Brien, they can bask in the fact that
they probably did turn some viewers against multiracial people and white people
in a one hour program designed to elevate ratings.

Susan Graham is the
executive director and co-founder of Project RACE (Reclassify All Children
Equally). The views in this commentary are her own and not those of ALL of the
membership of the organization.

Monday, December 10, 2012

We here at Project RACE just celebrated the first anniversary of The Multiracial Advocacy Blog and we are happy to say that for a young blog, it is making quite a splash!

Here are a few of the fun facts gathered from our blog dashboard (it's amazing what it can tell you) that may also be somewhat of a reflection of interest in the multiracial identity movement.

Just as Project RACE has attracted an international membership since its inception in 1990, our blog has consistently drawn hits from around the world as well. The majority of our readership is from the United States, but we also have an extremely large audience from both Russia and France. The list of top ten countries in order is rounded out by the Philippines, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Canada, Sweden and China.

Readers predominately are directed to our blog via our website projectrace.com, followed in number by readers who come directly to The Multiracial Advocacy Blog and then by those who come to the blog via Google.

The search keyword that led the greatest number of readers to our blog was "Multiracial Olympians". Likewise, the blog post that received the most views was "Another Multiracial Olympian" posted by our Executive Director, Susan Graham on August 10th.

For those who have interest in such things, 67 percent of our readers use a Windows operating system.

If there is anything you'd like to see here on our blog, please let us know. Subscribe if you'd like, or just drop by from time to time. Thanks everyone for reading and be sure to tell your friends about our blog!

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Mixed-race Brits rising fast as prejudice wanes

Jessica Ennis, face of the Olympics and now face of the new Britain (Graham Hughes)

MIXED-RACE Britons, epitomised by Jessica Ennis, the Olympic heptathlon
champion, are among the nation’s fastest-growing ethnic-minority groups,
according to official figures.

New data from the 2011 census to be published on Tuesday is expected to show
that at least 1m people were born to parents from different ethnicities.

Academics believe the true number of people from a mixed-race background could
be twice this amount, because many of them identified themselves in other
categories, such as black or white, on census forms.

The findings coincide with new polling that reveals only 15% of people feel
uncomfortable about interracial marriages.Twenty years ago, 40% of Britons expressed concerns about such relationships.
SOURCE:The Sunday Times

Saturday, December 8, 2012

No surprise that Black in America,
Soledad O'Brien's documentary series on African American life and
culture, was among CNN's most-watched programs. No other show has
offered a deeper look at what it means to be black, in all its
complexities.

As provocative as the previous four broadcasts were, I dare say that
nothing will cut to the core of black identity more than O'Brien's fifth
installment, Who is Black in America?, at 8 p.m. Sunday on CNN.

Along with O'Brien, all attended a packed screening this week at Drexel.
Like any good documentary, Who Is Black in America? left me pondering fundamental questions: Just who is black in America? Is blackness predicated on skin color or a cultural state of mind? And who gets to decide?

One little drop

Through the years, skin color has been politicized and racialized.
Just look at President Obama. Even though he identifies as a black man
of mixed race, his identity is the topic of endless public debate. As if
he's going to change his answer.

After all, the "one-drop rule," a law adopted by some Southern states
in the early 20th century, designated a person black if s/he possessed
even a trace of black heritage - in effect, only one drop of black
blood. By that rule, our biracial president would have had no chance to
enjoy the privileges conferred on pure-lineage whites.

Today, multichoice census forms allow us to check off what we truly
are. Yet colorism continues to shackle us in a racialized society.

Fortunately for O'Brien, her parents made it easy for her. Growing up
in a white community on Long Island, María de la Soledad Teresa
O'Brien, fair-skinned, freckle-faced, big-Afroed daughter of an
Afro-Cuban mother and an Irish-Australian father, never had to grapple
with the "What are you?" questions.

"My parents made it very clear: Do not let people tell you you're not
black and not Latino," O'Brien, 46, told me. "They understood the
hostility of the environment. ... You needed to be steeled."

The identity dilemma

Blay, a professor of Africana studies, concedes she started (1)ne Drop to answer questions of her own.

After all, she is a seal-brown daughter of Ghanaian immigrants - not
only a dark-skinned African American, but also a dark-skinned African.
Research told her that people like her are almost always at an economic
and social disadvantage simply because of that darker complexion.

Her share of social rejection embittered Blay with the belief that
"lighter-skinned people lived these glorious lives." But with (1)ne
Drop, Blay learned that multiracial people suffered a different brand of
rejection.

"I've never had to defend my blackness," she says. "I can't imagine
what it feels like to have people say my [identity] is not mine."

Fascinating stuff. Who Is Black in America? triumphs because it eagerly dives into uncomfortable truths that all too often get ignored.

"The only way to move forward," O'Brien says, "is to take these subjects out of the darkness and into the light."

Friday, December 7, 2012

Here
is the third Project RACE Kids book review from Lee and Low Books. I reviewed the first two
myself, but this one looked like it was for girls (it even had "Girl's"
in the title) so I passed it on to PR Kids Krew member, Emilee Dipp-Solis! Hope you like
Emilee's review! - Karson

Kimberly Pauley’s “Cat Girl’s Day Off” is about a high school sophomore, Natalie, who comes from a multiracial and multicultural family with a variety of supernatural abilities.Her
special ability is to communicate with cats, but only her two best
friends Oscar and Melly know. She is fully accepted as half Chinese and
half Nordic
by her peers in school. However, she is afraid of becoming an outcast
once they learn about her special talent. When a movie is being filmed at
her high school, she becomes involved in a mystery which leads her and
her friends into a series of adventures. At the beginning of the book
Natalie feels
like she is of no importance compared to the rest of the family, but
throughout her journey, she discovers that she is in fact an exceptional
young lady who can make a difference in many people’s lives. The book is very entertaining and easy to read and has a nice positive message.

NOTE FOR PARENTS: This book does have some mature content and is probably best for teens. If read by younger children, a parent may wish to read together or read it as well in order to discuss some thematic elements with the child.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Mixed Chicks LLC, a small company that makes specialized hair care
products for women of mixed race, has won a jury award of more than $8
million in a trademark and trade dress dispute with a
multimillion-dollar beauty supply company.

Sally Beauty Supply LLC, the world’s largest retailer of professional
beauty supplies, agreed last month to pay $8.5 million to Mixed Chicks
after the California jury found Sally Beauty had infringed the
trademarks of Mixed Chicks’s products.

The settlement is actually larger than the amount awarded by the jury,
as Sally Beauty offered the extra money to preempt the plaintiff’s
requests for attorneys’ fees and disgorgement of Sally Beauty’s profits
from the sale of the infringing products.

Mixed Chicks was represented by Kenneth Parker and Alan Wechsler of
Irvine, California-based Haynes and Boone. “This is one of the largest
trademark verdicts ever in the Central District of California,” Parker
said, adding that Sally Beauty has also ceased selling its Mixed Silk
products, which were the focus of the suit.

David vs. Goliath tales that come up with big wins for non-Goliaths are
rare in the world of intellectual property, where the time and cost of
litigation is daunting to small businesses and individuals. But Mixed
Chicks co-founders Wendi Levy and Kim Etheredge felt that taking on the
beauty supply giant was something they had to do. “We were warned the
case was not a slam dunk, that it would be expensive and time consuming,
and we were told the payoff, if we won, might not be large,” Etheredge
said. “But it was about the principle for us.”

Like most small startups, Etheredge and Levy had worked hard to get
their company going. The two women, who are both bi-racial, stumbled
upon their idea for a specialty hair care company when they realized
they had both struggled with their curly and often unruly hair most of
their lives. They noted that the texture of hair for women of mixed race
has particular qualities, and the women complained to each other that
to get their hair under control they had to buy shampoos and
conditioners in a drugstore’s “ethnic” aisle, along with others in the
generic hair care aisle. Their need to combine multiple products meant,
“we would have to use 10 different products instead of one,” Etheredge
said.

In 2003 they went to a chemist to figure out what ingredients were
effective for their hair types, and a year later launched Mixed Chicks.
They started with a web-based business and soon were selling their
products to salons and beauty-supply stores across the country. In 2009,
Halle Berry endorsed the Mixed Chicks brand, giving the company a huge
boost.

A representative from Sally Beauty Supply approached Etheredge and Levy
at a trade show a short time later, and soon after the retail chain
proposed an arrangement that would have it stock Mixed Chicks products
in its stores. After studying the proposal, however, the women declined
the offer, realizing that some of the chain’s policies—such as deep
discounting, the need to provide large amounts of inventory, and a
requirement that they accept returns—would be risky. “We wanted to make
sure we had control of our merchandise and inventory,” according to
Etheredge.

In early 2011, Sally Beauty rolled out its own product line for
multiracial women, which it called Mixed Silk. Levy and Etheredge first
learned about it from clients and customers, who were calling and asking
why there was a product on the market that looked so much like theirs
but went under a different name and was less expensive. Some even
thought Levy and Etheredge had introduced a new low-cost product to
segment the market.

Etheredge and Levy were shocked. Everything about this new product line
appeared to be a knock-off. “The color and size of the bottles were the
same, the color of the liquid was the same, the scent and texture of the
products were almost identical,” said Parker, who formerly was
corporate counsel for Callaway Golf Company. Even the advertisements
seemed to resemble the Mixed Chicks promos, which feature a photo of
Levy and Etheredge.

In addition, the Sally Beauty website contained a search engine in which
a consumer could type in a product name to find out whether it was sold
by Sally Beauty. It was programmed in such a way that when a consumer
typed in “mixed chicks,” the only results it returned were the Sally
Beauty “mixed silk” product line.

The effect, Parker said, was to deceive and confuse the public. In March 2011, Mixed Chicks sued [PDF], alleging Sally Beauty “intentionally, knowingly, and willfully” infringed the Mixed Chicks trademark and trade dress.

Trademark and trade dress suits often don’t go to trial, as the parties
typically choose to settle. But Etheredge and Levy weren’t satisfied
with Sally Beauty’s offers, and the large retailer continued to sell the
products they were convinced infringed. So after an almost two-year
battle, the case went before a jury.

During the nine-day trial, Sally Beauty testified that similarities were
coincidental. (Sally Beauty’s attorneys, Jonathn Gordon and Casondra
Ruga of Alston & Bird, could not be reached for comment.) The jury
didn’t buy it. After deliberating for six hours, the jury decided that
Mixed Chicks had suffered $839,535 in actual damages, and found that
Sally Beauty had acted willfully and with malice, oppression, or fraud,
resulting in a punitive damages award of $7.27 million.

The disposition of the case was finalized last week. “Others will enter
the market, but we’re not afraid of competition—as long as it’s fair
competition,” Etheredge said. “We knew we were in the right, and we’re
happy we can now move forward.”
Source: Corporate Counsel

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Want to make a difference in the lives of our country's fastest growing racial group? We are accepting applications for Project RACE Kids and Project RACE Teens National Panelists for 2013.

Qualifications:Creative and passionate Kids age 8 - 12 and Teens 13-18 who believe that multiracial people should be able to identify with all aspects of their heritage. Previous panelists have been called upon to contribute in many ways: writing for our blog and website, volunteerngi at events including bone marrow drives, advocating on behalf of multiracial kids, teens and our families with schools, legislators, and other organizations. Naturally, applicants from all races are welcome.

How to apply:Please email the following information to: Projectracekids@projectrace.comName:Age:Hometown:And a short explanation of: "Why I would like to be a Project RACE National Panelist."

Court Upholds $1M Award in School Race-Harassment Case

A federal appeals court
has upheld a $1 million jury award against a small New York state school
district found to be deliberately indifferent to persistent racial
harassment of a high school student by his peers.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit,
in New York City, ruled unanimously in favor of the family of Anthony
Zeno, who is half-white and half-Latino and is described in court papers
as "dark-skinned."

Zeno was 16 when his family moved in January 2005 from Long Island to
the heavily white community of Pine Plains, in Dutchess County, N.Y. At
Stissing Mountain High School, where racial minorities were less than 5
percent of the student enrollment, Zeno quickly encountered the
harassment, including students calling him "nigger" in the halls and
telling him to go back where he came from, according to court papers. A
student ripped a necklace from Zeno's neck and referred to it as Zeno's
"fake rapper bling bling." There were also direct and implied threats
aimed at Zeno, and references to lynching.

During the 2005-06 school year, Zeno faced racial harassment on his
football team and continued comments in the hallways and in classrooms.
School officials suspended offenders in some cases, but the district's
superintendent declined to meet with Zeno's mother despite repeated
requests. Despite the intervention of the local human rights commission
and NAACP chapter, district officials declined suggestions that Zeno be
assigned a "shadow" to help protect him in school.

The district coordinated a mediation session between Zeno's mother
and the parents of some of his antagonists, but then neglected to inform
Zeno's mother of the time and place of the session.
In his junior and senior years, Zeno faced continued hallway
harassment, though he reported incidents less frequently because he did
not think the school would respond. Zeno was in special education, and
he eventually agreed to a form of special education diploma rather than
continue in school to try to achieve a New York State Regents diploma.

Zeno sued the district, alleging race discrimination under Title VI
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. A jury found for Zeno and awarded him
$1.25 million in compensatory damages, which the trial judge reduced to
$1 million.

The Pine Plains Central School District, which has 1,100 students and
a $28 million annual budget, appealed to the 2nd Circuit, arguing that
it was not deliberately indifferent to Zeno's harassment. The district
said it responded reasonably to each reported incident, it was under no
obligation to try options such as the shadow, and that it didn't know
its responses were inadequate or ineffective.
In its Dec. 3 decision in Zeno v. Pine Plains Central School District, the 2nd Circuit court rejected the district's arguments.

"The jury could have found and apparently did find that the
district's remedial response was inadequate — and deliberately
indifferent — in at least three respects," the court said. First, while
the district did discipline some students, it "dragged its feet" on
implementing nondisciplinary measures such as bias training, the court
said.

Second, many of those measures were "half-hearted," the court said.
And third, "a jury reasonably could have found that the district ignored
the many signals that greater, more-directed action was needed," it
said.

"The district knew that Anthony was called 'nigger' and other racial
slurs during his entire three-and-a-half years at [Sissing Mountain High
School]," the court said. "The jury was entitled to conclude that the
district knew that greater action was required."

The court also rejected the district's arguments that the $1 million damages award was excessive.
Zeno "was a teenager being subjected — at a vulnerable point in his
life — to three-and-a-half years of racist, demeaning, threatening, and
violent conduct," the court said. "Furthermore, the conduct occurred at
his school, in the presence of friends, classmates, other students, and
teachers. The jury reasonably could have found that the harassment would
have a profound and long-term impact on Anthony's life and his ability
to earn a living."

Zeno was supported in the 2nd Circuit by President Obama's administration, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief
arguing that a school district may be found liable under the deliberate
indifference standard "where its response to known acts of
student-on-student harassment is not reasonably calculated to end
persistent racial harassment."

"If a school district is aware that other students are not being
deterred from engaging in harassment by individual disciplinary action,
and the district continues to rely on those disciplinary measures as its
exclusive remedy, that
response would not be reasonably calculated to prevent persistent
harassment from occurring again," said the brief, which was signed by
lawyers from the federal departments of Justice and Education.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Racial and gender stereotypes have profound consequences in almost every
sector of public life, from job interviews and housing to police stops
and prison terms. However, only a few studies have examined whether
these different categories overlap in their stereotypes. A new study on
the connections between race and gender -- a phenomenon called gendered
race -- reveals unexpected ways in which stereotypes affect our personal
and professional decisions.

Within the United States, Asians as an ethnic group are perceived as
more feminine in comparison to whites, while blacks are perceived as
more masculine, according to new research by Adam Galinsky, the Vikram
S. Pandit Professor of Business at Columbia Business School. Further
research by Galinsky shows that the fact that race is gendered has
profound consequences for interracial marriage, leadership selection,
and athletic participation.

The first study conducted by Galinsky and his colleagues Erika Hall
of Kellogg School of Management and Amy Cuddy of Harvard University
directly tested whether race was gendered. Eighty-five participants of
various backgrounds completed an online survey in which they evaluated
either the femininity or masculinity of certain traits or attributed
those traits to Asians, whites, and blacks.

"The stereotype content for
blacks was considered to be the most masculine, followed by whites, with
Asians being the least masculine," Galinsky wrote in the study, soon to
appear in Psychological Science. "Thus, we found a substantial
overlap between the contents of racial and gender stereotypes." A
separate study, in which participants were subliminally exposed to a
word related to race before reacting to words perceived as masculine or
feminine, showed that the association between racial and gender
stereotypes exists even at an implicit level.

Their next set of studies demonstrated that these associations have
important implications for romantic relationships. Within the
heterosexual dating market, men tend to prefer women who personify the
feminine ideal while women prefer men who embody masculinity. Galinsky
showed that men are more attracted to Asian women relative to black
women, while women are more attracted to black men relative to Asian
men. Even more interesting, the more a man valued femininity the more
likely he was attracted to an Asian women and the less likely he was
attracted to an black women. The same effect occurred for women, with
attraction to masculinity driving the differential attraction to black
men and Asian men.

These interracial dating preferences have real-world results,
Galinsky found. He analyzed the 2000 US Census data and found a similar
pattern among interracial marriages: among black-white marriages, 73
percent had a black husband and a white wife, while among Asian-white
marriages, 75 percent had a white husband and an Asian wife. An even
more pronounced pattern emerged in Asian-black marriages, in which 86
percent had a black husband and an Asian wife.

The effects of gendered races extend to leadership selection and
athletic participation, further research showed. In a study in which
participants evaluated job candidates, Asians were more likely to be
selected for a leadership position that required collaboration and
relationship building, traits typically perceived as feminine. Black
candidates were more likely to be chosen for positions that required a
fiercely competitive approach, typically seen as masculine.

A final study analyzed archival data from the National Collegiate
Athletic Association's (NCAA) Student-Athlete Ethnicity Report, which
breaks down the racial composition of 30 different collegiate sports
(NCAA, 2010) from 2000-2010 for Divisions I, II, and III. Galinsky and
his colleagues found that the more a sport was perceived to be masculine
the greater the relative number of black to Asian athletes who played
that sport at the collegiate level, with blacks more likely to
participate in the most masculine sports.

"This research shows that the intersection of race and gender has
important real-world consequences," Galinsky concluded. "Considering the
overlap between racial and gender stereotypes -- our gendered race
perspective -- opens up new frontiers for understanding how stereotypes
impact the important decisions that drive our most significant outcomes
at work and at home."